Before we got to this final step, Wendy and I had quite a bit of disagreement. We've actually been going back and forth on this issue for years. And I mean, quite literally, years. When we first received the chair, we had no idea what sort of seat had adorned the piece of furniture. Wendy's initial thought was to finish it with a piece of flat plywood covered in a bit of cushion and fabric, much like a typical dining room chair. Though this approach was an early possibility, when I began working on the chair I realized that it both wouldn't work and wasn't right for the shape and construction of the seat.

It wasn't until I actually paid attention to the curved front and back of the chair that I started to realize a more appropriate option. The seat was meant to be more of a U shape than a flat bottom seat. The side support rails of the seat area lent themselves to this shape as well. Any wood bottom would need to be shaped to fit in this opening, which would have been difficult at the very least. You can see the curve in the bottom when the chair was completely disassembled.

Secondly, as I removed nail after nail from the seat frame area, I also saw remnants of fabric that appeared to be burlap. After further inspection, I came to the conclusion that  the chair 's original seat might have been woven fabric, covered in a padded cushion. Growing up, Wendy remembers the original seat of the chair was covered in a striped satin or silk, but the supports had long since deteriorated leaving the chair unusable.

After coming to this realization, I told Wendy that I thought we should "upholster" the chair ourselves and take care of the seat and support on our own. She was not in agreement.

We went back and forth on this issue over the last several years. Wendy felt we were ill prepared to handle this on our own, and that we should let a professional furniture restorer handle the whole thing. I felt quite the opposite, more specifically that we had the knowhow and ability to figure our a viable solution to the problem and would be able to complete the project in an equally satisfactory manner as the pros.

As this debate went on, unchanged, for years, I had time to plan. I did a fair amount of research and found chairs all over eBay and antique websites that showed a similar webbing pattern as what I believe our chair was originally built with.

Photo Credit: User Superreverb on ar15.com

In most cases, what I saw was a jute webbing as an underlayment, following by a single or double layer of burlap over top of the jute. In some cases, the jute was stretched taught across the chair, while in others it was hanging in a looser configuration. But in all cases, I was able to see how the webbing should be installed by taking clues from our chair and comparing with reference photos of other chairs.

Through my various on again - off again research, I was able to locate a furniture webbing from Rockler that looked like it would fit the bill. 

At the time I didn't realize I could have just used a roll of heavy duty jute (this was a while ago, before I discovered what jute was), so I went ahead and bought enough for the webbing. It ended up not being nearly as cheap as the jute could have been, but it's a bit thicker and seems more solid. To be totally honest, I wish I had known about the jute, as I may have opted for that instead.

A few weeks ago, after the years of debate had raged on, Wendy tired of the ongoing argument and allowed her desire for a "finished" chair in time for the home tour to trump her desire to send it out to have it upholstered. My desire to provide this finished (enough) project for Wendy inspired me to wake up on only about four hours sleep the morning of the home tour and attempt to install the webbing while doing the remaining items on our lengthy to do list.

I grabbed our roll of chair webbing, a pair of scissors, and our electric stapler.

My first step was to cut the front to back strips of webbing since these would need to be stretched a bit to provide the majority of the chair's seat support.

Starting with middle piece, I began working out in either direction.

Let me just say, I don't know how I didn't freak out and destroy our electric stapler. This stapler had worked so well on projects in the past, but now, when I needed it the most, all of the staples seemed to be going into the chair in a bent, mangled, gnarly fashion. I wanted nothing more than for the stapler to come alive just so that I could strangle its life from it.

I knew I didn't have time for another solution, so I grabbed my needle nosed pliers and started pulling out the particularly bad staples, but for the most part, I just said "screw it for now" and soldiered through.

Once the main front to back pieces were in place, I began weaving in the side to side pieces. Since the chair's bottom follows the slight curve of the seat, I didn't want to stretch these pieces, but instead I just wanted to staple them in place in a manner that would allow the bottom of the seat to lay naturally with the curve of the wood.

After about an hour of cutting, stretching, and stapling, I had a completed chair bottom.

I nervously tested it out, first by pushing with my hands, then gingerly sitting on the woven straps, and then finally giving in and putting my full weight down. Our chair that had once been a forgotten and wobbly mess was now a beautiful piece of functional heirloom furniture.

At this point we threw a pillow on it and called it "good enough" for the home tour. We didn't expect anyone to actually sit in it, so we figured we didn't need to worry all that much. Boy were we wrong.

Throughout the tour I bet there were dozens of people that sat in this little antique chair. When we arrived home the pillows were askew and the chair slightly moved. The best news of all was that the chair's webbing was in place, crinkled staples and all.

Though the chair had survived its major test, I'm often a bit of a perfectionist on items like this. Rather than leave well enough alone, I figured it was high time to put my "one new tool for every project" mantra to good use. I've long thought about getting a pneumatic stapler, and now that our electric stapler had turned into a giant disappointment and failed so miserably from an upholstery standpoint, I was ready to take it to the next level. I ordered an inexpensive upholstery stapler and it arrived a few days later.

At this point, our chair was covered in bad staples, so I grabbed my needle nose pliers and got to work. I pulled out most staples from each area leaving one or two critical staples in place on each piece of fabric. This allowed me to staple with the new gun without losing any stretch or form of the weave.

The staples went in perfectly. Flat, smooth, predictable, and therefore were far fewer thoughts of tool homocide, I assure you.

After a whole lot of effort in carefully removing and re-stapling, I had a neat pile of silver carnage...

...but also a much more organized and workable basket weave, ready to stand up to all the rear ends that will meet this chair. 

The final step to completing the chair's seat base was to apply a covering of burlap to the top of the basket weave. I'm not sure why this step is necessary, but I saw it in enough pictures to know I should do it. My guess, it has to do with keeping the basket weave from getting disturbed by the seat cushion upon repeated sitting.

We cut a piece of burlap that was larger than the dimensions of the chair, then folded the sides under prior to stapling. We used an iron to get a nice crase in the fabric and to give the burlap edges a much tidier look.

We also doubled the burlap over, effectively giving ourselves two layers of covering from a single piece if fabric.

After a quick test fit...

...and a few more (dozen) staples, we had ourselves a good looking chair that just needed a nice upholstered cushion. After a final "Alex's butt test," I gave our burlap and webbing base our seal of approval.

And do you know why this project is perfect for blogging? Because it involves burlap, and the Internet are IN LOVE WITH BURLAP. I know, I've seen it first hand. This is definitely something Lulu has in common with the whole home decor blogosphere.

The final step will be to have a cushion made to sit atop the burlap seat. Wendy ordered a couple yards of fabric from West Elm, and the gray textured fabric has arrived. We might tackle this final step after the holiday madness has subsided.

What do you think, do we have a good and long lasting base for our chair? Do you think it was the right move to remove the messed up staples and redo everything, or would you have left it the way it was since it would ultimately be hidden under the burlap? Have you ever had a less than desirable outcome from a step in a project, and have opted to take a step back and correct/rework the issue? It pained us to do so in the moment because of the lost time and expense of a new tool, but now that it's done "right" we'll sleep better at night.

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In our last post about Wendy's great-grandfather's chair, we filled you in on the chair's history, as well as the journey it had taken from basement to basement until it reached our home in need of a little TLC.

The chair has transferred hands several times in the last 40-50 years, each owner having full intentions to refinish and repair the chair back to a functional piece of furniture. Who knows how long it had been in the state it was in, but to the recollection of Wendy's mother, it was even in the Wendy's great-grandfather's basement for quite a bit of time.

Wendy's Great-Grandfather and Great-Grandmother are in the back row, 3rd and 4th from the right, holding her great-aunt Marge.

As legend has it, one day Wendy's great-grandfather locked himself out of the house. As a spry 80 something, he was able to jimmy open a basement window and crawl through to gain access to the house. The chair was apparently sitting below this window, and was the only thing that allowed him to step into the basement rather than fall. Perhaps this is where it developed its signature wobble.

Having sanded and prepared the chair for finishing (and correcting the wobble), it came to a point where we were ready to apply a stain. Wendy had hinted that she wanted to paint the chair at one time, and since I had just spent a significant amount of time sanding it, I simply didn't feel this was a viable (or reasonable) option. Rather than paint, I suggested we stain the chair a very dark brown, with which Wendy agreed. Okay, maybe Wendy begrudgingly agreed.

I began researching the type of stain we'd want to use to achieve the dark look. We've only ever used oil based wood stain before (and I believe gel stain on one project at some point), but the use of dyes has intrigued me for some time. I know it's a far more effective way to really get those deep and dark colors, as well as a way to make certain species of wood look like other more expensive species, but I was a bit nervous to try something new on something old the cherished heirloom.

After doing a lot of research and seeking a significant amount of advice from several people, I felt I was armed with the info we'd need to proceed. Though a reader or two had cautioned us against the possible perils of using dye, we threw caution to the wind and opted to go for it.

If you're not familiar, dye is a tried and true means for coloring wood, and one that's been in use for centuries. Oil stain is actually a rather recent invention. In our case, we opted to use a water soluble aniline dye. Though we chose water soluble, there are also alcohol and shellac based options, each with their own unique properties.

In the case of dye, when you apply it to the wood it actually absorbs into the wood and changes the color. Typical stains or cut shellac essentially mask over the surface with the color, this is why you can't drastically make a stain darker by applying additional coats. The aniline dyes will dye the wood with each coat, making it darker with each application. The advantage, in my eyes, is that it actually changes the wood, and you can use dyes to make the wood you're working with look like a different species.

We ordered a small one ounce vial of dye from Woodworker's Supply. The aniline dyes actually come as powder that you mix by volume. The more powder, the darker the color.

The color we selected is called Oxford Oak and it looked to be a very dark brown.

For a complete listing of colors (and there are a ton), check out the full color chart.

To properly gauge how much dye we were mixing I made pen marks at the quarter lines of the vial. This way I'd be able to see when I had placed the proper amount in the glass jar.

Following the instructions we used very hot (but not boiling) water and mixed it into the powder.

It instantly became a very dark color. We put the lid on the jar and shook. Note: Use correct lid and tighten, otherwise this happens. 

Also, be sure to wear gloves, otherwise your nail beds will look like you're a garage mechanic for the next two weeks. 

After a good mixing, we poured the dye solution through a strainer to remove any of the undissolved or gritty dye particles.

Once the dye was mixed we began applying the mixture to the chair. We both started in out of way locations that we knew would be covered by the chair pad. We did this to be sure the color was what we wanted, but would allow ourselves an out if it was looking horrible. Luckily, the color was exactly what we were looking for.

We continued by methodically working our way around the chair using foam brushes.

Much like painting, you want to maintain a wet edge. This way you're not doubling up coats of dye. If you double up on an area that has already started to dry, you may end up with some splotchiness.

We were both really loving the rich color of the dye. One small mistake was how Wendy started the back of the chair. She began with a strip right down the middle. This made it difficult to cover the right and then the left without accidentally doubling up on dried stain. It would have been better to work from one very edge to the other. Lesson learned.

The other problem we kept running into was drips. In retrospect, it would have been better to work from top to bottom, correcting drips as they occur. We were working from the bottom of the legs and working up, so gravity was against us, and any drips had the chance to go over already applied dye. We had to be very diligent in our inspection and proactive with our corrections.

It's also important to note that our application was done using a foam brush, but a sprayer may have been much better at giving a more even consistent covering.

Once we finished the first overall coat the directions dictated a 12 hour dry time. During this point, we actually grew a little concerned. As the dye dried, the color changed from the deep and rich brown to an almost green hued brown. 

We also had to keep telling ourselves that it would look better once we applied a topcoat. We had also planned on applying a second coat of dye, since the instructions suggested it.

Once the whole chair had dried, we were actually a little more than concerned. The stripe down the middle of the chair's back was obvious, you could see a few areas of overlap on other parts of the chair, and the color was somewhat inconsistent from spot to spot. Though troubling, I resisted the "OMG I'm totally freaking out," response I would have normally gone for.

Since the dye is a water based dye, it had slightly raised the grain (fuzz) of the wood. This gave the previously smooth chair a bit of a rough feeling. I knew we'd need to give the whole thing a light sand, so I was holding out hope that this sanding process might be able to correct the issues. I grabbed a bit of 400 grit sandpaper and got to work.

It's important to note that all of this sanding was done by hand. I just wanted to smooth out the problem areas and remove the fuzz of the wood. When I hit the areas of blotchiness or overlap of dye coats, I could see the harsh transitions fade just a bit. The key to the success of correcting the issues was actually dropping down and using 200 grit sandpaper in the very dark areas that I wanted to slight lighten. Then going back over those areas with the 400 grit paper evened it all out a bit more.

After the initial sand we looked over the whole chair and made the executive decision (collectively as executives of our house...no, Lulu and Mel didn't have a say because they aren't allowed in the disaster of a basement) to forego application of the second coat of dye. It would have required an extra day to dry, as well as mixing a much lighter batch of dye, and we were satisfied with the color. Besides, we still had some sliver of hope that we'd be able to put the chair out during last weekend's home tour. Rather than a second coat of dye, we moved right onto topcoat application.

We had several different options for the topcoat. We could use an oil- or water-based polyurethane, as we've done for several other projects, but this didn't feel right to us. We could have also used lacquer, but I sort of had my mind set on shellac.

Shellac has a few qualities that I really like about using it as a finish for this project. First, it's an alcohol based topcoat. Since the dye is water based, we needed to use an oil- or alcohol-based topcoat. Second, it's an old, tried and true product. Shellac has been used in wood finishing since the early 19th century. It was replaced in the 1920s and 30s by lacquer, and more recently, polyurethane. Third, the dye we used had almost no reddish color to it. Using shellac would add a slight amber color to the final product that we thought might be appealing and help us land on just color we were looking to achieve.

We went ahead and applied two coats of shellac with a 24 hour dry time in between. We also sanded the first coat of shellac with 400 grit sandpaper to give the second coat a really smooth finish.

The timing of the second coat meant we were actually applying the second coat of shellac on Friday, the day before the home tour. To say we were cutting it close is an understatement.

After a few hours of dry time we brought the chair upstairs and put it in its final resting location to see how it looked. The verdict? We love it!

There are a few small areas on the very top part of the back that have a slight discoloration due to damage to the plywood, but those are easily overlooked since there's little we could do.

The color, scale, look, everything, is exactly what we were hoping for in using the dye. I'm officially a fan of what you can do with dye. I'm excited to try it on a few other projects and see what I can do about making something new that's made out of poplar look old.

We still had to place the chair's seat base in place, but we were getting close to having a functional chair. Though we had somewhat given up on using it during the home tour, we were still happy with the outcome. But we were both secretly hoping we'd be able to complete it.

We'll fill you in on the next step in another post, but until then, what do you think? Are you a fan of the dark wood? Or do you prefer a lighter stain? Have you ever used the dyes, or are you primarily a stain person? What about paint? Do you think I should have given in to Wendy's impulse to paint the chair? So many questions. Weigh in and give me your two cents.

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As children of families with deep heritage and histories, we both know stories and have knowledge of our lineage. Neither of us are from any sort of famous, powerful, or particularly wealthy families, and both of our families represent an eclectic mix of hard working individuals. The various sides of our families' roots in the United States were established anywhere from the industrial revolution to the Revolutionary War, all depending on the branch of our respective trees. But no matter the situation, each of our families came here with little, in hopes of providing more for their loved ones. For this very reason, antiques, keepsakes, and heirloom pieces passed from generation to generation are rare and treasured.

As a young girl, Wendy remembers this old, dirty, and wobbly chair sitting in her parents' basement. As the story goes, this chair once sat in a church rectory, and somehow ended up in her great grandfather's possession. Dark and splintered wood, worn with age and use, faded and torn fabric seat, and tattered burlap seat straps did little to tell the story of the possibly rich history the chair possesses. Instead, its current condition acted as more of a footnote to its largely unknown legend.

As a child, Wendy was unaware of the chair's eventual meaning to her. She always knew it was her great grandfather's chair, but figured it was a lost cause from a furniture or seating standpoint and was only being held onto for some sentimental purposes.

As we grew older and began to build an appreciation for our families' history, we both started searching for items that can hold a special meaning in our lives, and in the history of our families. At one point, Wendy asked her parents if they had any plans for the abandoned chair in their basement, and if they didn't, could we have it? Wendy's parents generously gifted the worn and tired chair and wished us luck.

We received the chair in 2004 and began work on it almost immediately. We had hoped to salvage it in some way, but were unsure given the tough shape much of the wood was in. Dry, cracked, splintered, and wobbly, the chair had seen better days. While working on nail removal, one of the pegs slipped from the chair's arm revealing a completely failed glue joint. This joint failure explained the wobbly nature of the chair's structure. We knew we'd need to do a little bit more aggressive of chair surgery if we were going to be able to use the piece for its intended purpose.

After we completely disassembled the chair, we were able to begin working on the chair in earnest. Though we had every intention to restore the chair to its former glory, we had little know how at the time. Still newlyweds and with a "new" very old house, we had a project list longer than we could fathom and few specialized tools (such as cabinet clamps) that would be necessary. We had gotten off to a decent start, but we put the project off to the side, where it sat for an additional eight years.

As luck would have it, our kitchen/sun porch "rethink" rolled around this summer. Knowing we'd need additional seating, Wendy raised the idea of using her great grandfather's chair for the room. She was hopeful we could work it in, but figured it would be more of a decorative element than functional. It's old wobble was so severe, she assumed we wouldn't be able to use it as viable seating. After disassembling the chair, we were left with four pieces that needed a complete sanding and prep.

I did the majority of the remaining sanding using my Fein Multimaster oscillating tool and sanding pads I had cut to a more manageable size. I found using the oscillating tool to be a bit slower, but it allowed me to get into the detail areas of the chair. I also found it was much less likely to leave those tiny little swirl marks you often see with an orbital sander.

After a few more hours the chair's sanding was complete. I went over the whole chair with 220 grit paper and "00" steel wool, we were ready for reassembly.

I've had an internal struggle over sanding this chair for quite some time. I mentioned in a prior post that my inexperience in what we're doing really showed when we were given the chair. Back in 2004 I was sanding everything raw, caulking gaps all over the place, and pocket hole screwing everything to death. I didn't yet have an appreciation for the patina and character that comes with "old." Once I started to gain this appreciation, I began to regret my decision to take off all of the chair's original finish. Perhaps there was something I could have done to better preserve the chair's character?

Through much soul searching I came to a final conclusion. (Can you tell I take this chair seriously?) I determined that, if I had it to do over again I would not have sanded the chair so aggressively. But what's done is done, and I know better for the next time, I just need to be sure I put as much effort into making this chair exactly what it should be with what I have to work with.

With the chair ready to assembly, I broke out my various cabinet clamps. These clamps were absolutely necessary in ensuring my ability to assemble the chair the way it once was and should always be.

I painted wood glue on the various dowels of the chair and also applied glue on the surfaces that accept the dowels.

Painting on the glue rather than just slopping it into place allows the joint to be securely made without having glue squeeze out all over the place. Once all of the glue was applied, I made the necessary connections and clamped the whole chair back together.

The rear of the chair has two steel slot head screws that were the final pieces I had to insert. Once in place, I was able to take a step back at the famed chair finally reassembled.

After allowing several hours of dry time I removed the clamps and inspected the work. The chair was secure and sturdy. Even without a seat I could tell it would be plenty sturdy to act as actual seating. I brought the chair into the sun porch to see how it might eventually look in the space. It was nearly perfect.

I surprised Wendy by completing the chair assembly and putting it in place and I can't tell you how happy she was when she arrived home and saw it. She danced around and gave me a huge hug. We had longed talked about getting this chair back in place and it was finally becoming a reality.

We still have a fair amount of work left before we can call the project done. We need to stain the chair as well as install jute webbing, a burlap cover, and a seat cushion, but we can see the whole thing taking shape. We're planning to stain it a very dark brown a little later this week. We'll be sure to update you on progress.

What do you think of our sentimental heirloom and its placement in our sun porch? Do you have a piece of furniture in your home, that has been passed down from generation to generation? Maybe a family heirloom that you've worked to restore? If so, we'd love to hear all about it.

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Our old wicker bench in the sun porch of years past was a nostalgia piece of furniture. We purchased it almost immediately upon our arrival in DC and placed it on our apartment's balcony. Since then it's been a versatile piece and a constant in our lives. Mel has used it extensively, as has Lulu. And Ollie? Well, Ollie chewed it all to hell leaving the front rather ragged, but I'll say he loved it too. (He also liked to pulled the shoes out of the baskets under the bench.)

For all of its sentimental reminders, it was definitely past its prime, and it was also far from looking particularly good. That's why we'll go ahead and use "nostalgia" as the excuse for why we kept it in our sun porch for nearly a decade.

With the recent purchase of new chairs for the sun porch, it was finally time to bid a fond farewell to this ragged piece of furniture. My father in law and I recently took this wicker bench to its new temporary home at a local charity.

Though we had mixed emotions seeing something that had been with us for a dozen years suddenly be gone, we had a very real and difficult issue to do with that had nothing to do with emotion or nostalgia. That wicker bench, in all of its battered appearance, did a wonderful job hiding/housing our shoe collection in two wicker baskets we'd slide below the bench. Now with the bench moving on to greener pastures, we were left with the baskets and shoes in a pile in the corner of the room, something my wife informs me is totally unacceptable. 

Every time I'd enter the room I'd glance down and see them staring back at me. I could almost hear them screaming out, "Aaaggghhh, look at me, I'm a monster!!!! Nooooo, look away!!!" (Those shoe baskets are super dramatic, I tell you.)

With our white hutch now in the sun porch, Wendy had been lobbying for the ability to store our shoes in the left side of the lower cabinet. The space is rather large, was currently underutilized, and is just begging to assume a bigger role in tackling our home's organization issues. 

I agreed with Wendy that this area would make good shoe storage, but it wouldn't be able to fill the role without a proper shelf of sorts.

To start working on the storage solution, I ran out to Lowes and picked up the straightest piece of 1" x 12" clear pine they had in stock (which means it was cupped and slightly warped). I had a plan to put my skills of "build out of necessity" into action and started my plan of attack.

We first measured the height and width of the opening to determine max size of the insert. I wanted to build this as a single item that could simply slide into place without having to screw it to the hutch's interior.

We also measured the heights of our most frequently worn shoes in order to establish the height of each shelf.

In our case we needed it to be 17-1/4" tall and 17" wide, with each opening for shoes averaging to about 5" tall.

I took to the basement and began cutting the various pieces for the project. I cut the two sides and the top to 17" even, then cut a rabbet at the edge of each side of the top leaving 1/4" of material. To allow for a little bit of adjustment and change (if needed), I used my adjustable shelf jig and self centering drill bit to cut shelf support holes. 

This jig and the accompanying drill bits have been particularly handy on many projects over the years, including when I built the custom cherry desk in our office and when I built adjustable shelves in Wendy's shoe closet. (We'll be posting a lot of detail and photos on our master bedroom closet project soon, I promise.)

To attach the pieces together I just used a little wood glue, a carpenter's square for support, and 1-1/4" brad nails from my finish nailer. I also cut a few pieces of 1/2" x2" and attached them to the lower back of the box to offer a little additional structure and support.

The final pieces to cut were the shelves for the shoes. My first measurement was a little off and I cut the shelf slightly short. It still fits, it just has a little more sloppy wiggle room. Normally this would drive me crazy, but since this is utilitarian storage that will always be concealed inside the hutch, I let the slightly short shelf as is. The second shelf I cut fits perfectly.

After a little wood filler in the top nail holes and a good overall sanding with the orbital sander, we had ourselves new shoe storage. I slid the shelves into place and loaded it up with our eight pairs of shoes.

The shoe-filled baskets no longer clutter the floor, and this little project built out of necessity took only about one hour from start to finish and cost roughly $20 in materials. Now we have a functional and useful solution for storing shoes that fits our particular needs. Not too shabby.

Do you ever find yourself needing to quickly throw something together in order to meet a need? Are you confident in your ability to tackle tasks like that or do you find yourself more hesitant and instead looking for a ready made solution you can purchase? Is there a messy catch all area of your home that's crying out for a little organization? If so, we'd love to hear about it.

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Ever since we moved into our home we've we been using the sun porch as a mixed use extension of our kitchen. And through that time, due to the large and very open windows in the space, the window treatments (or lack of) have clearly set the tone in each incarnation of the room. 

Here's a look back at where we started, shortly after moving into our home in 2003.

We lived with this look for several years, until we saved up money to tackle the space. During our next phase of sun porch decorating, we had custom window treatments made, bought a new sisal rug, added a couple new pieces of furniture along with existing and hand me down pieces, and painted over the ugly brown tile. Needless to say, we were happy with the improvements.

And now it's confession time. We haven't been forthcoming with y'all about why we started the sun porch makeover in the first place, so here's the back story. About this time last year we were thrilled to be chosen to be featured as an Apartment Therapy home tour. The online tour featured photos of our home, top to bottom. Though the comments were overwhelmingly wonderful and positive, there was one slightly negative comment about our sun porch window treatments.

The commenter said "Fantastic job! Not really my taste, but it all looks great except for the window treatments in the kitchen and sunroom - that fabric screams 1980s to me."

Ouch. We were hurt, shocked, offended, appalled, crushed, and sad. Okay, maybe we weren't really any of those things, and the commenter did say "Fantastic job," but our eyes were at least opened, and we knew we needed a change. (Well, Wendy had been talking of making a change already, so this was really the catalyst we needed to get started.) So I say (read in your best "Real Men of Genius" jingle voice):

I hope you enjoyed my jingle, and if you know the duo responsible for the real jingles, let them know I have a recording job for them.

Ok, back on topic. We used that seemingly random but cutting comment as inspiration and a little nudge to begin the sun porch overhaul. The first item on our upgrade list was to purchase an "inspiration rug." 

This step was almost immediately followed by the removal of the old, and apparently very dated looking "1980's" window treatments.But once those window treatments were removed and replaced by some stock bamboo shades, it just felt wrong.

It was hard and disheveled, and it didn't really make the room look cohesive. We needed something else, without a doubt. Even though a coat of paint helped, it still was seriously lacking.

While we were on our IKEA shopping spree back in August, Wendy picked up four white drapery panels destined for this room. But one of the biggest problems was how we planned on hanging them. The length of the wall at the back of the house is quite long and we were having a hard time finding a length that might work.

We were also stumped by how to hang the curtain rods, especially on the wall with the door. After receiving several suggestions regarding DIY conduit curtain rods, we were nearly sold on making them ourselves, but with the impending December 1 deadline and our mile-long list of things we need to do before we're on the Alexandria Scottish Christmas Walk Weekend Designer Tour of Homes, my better half made the executive decision to go the store bought route. Wendy was able to find a set of Target rods that are able to extend just barely to the length we need them.

When she brought them home I innocently said "Wait, I thought we were making these from conduit?" From the flames that appeared just behind her eyes, I knew I had assumed incorrectly.

"We have a home tour in two weeks, we have a ton of things to get done...WE DON'T HAVE TIME!" (Since there's no snarling dragon HTML tag, I've had to simply bold that text. Perhaps I should have used the BLINK tag.)

We promptly got to work hanging the curtain rods in hopes that the lengths and style Wendy had chosen would work for our room. It wasn't 10 minutes into the project when Mel decided he wanted to check out the new curtains.

After a few minutes of measuring, pilot holes, and screws, we had ourselves some pretty darn good curtain rods.

The panels Wendy picked up at IKEA had tab tops. Wendy was looking for a more clean look so she snipped the tabs right off of the panels with scissors.

We slid the rings on the rods and simply clipped the curtains to the rings.

And voila, we had ourselves some curtains...that were way too long.

It was a major step forward and we were feeling great. The curtains made the room feel great. Much more comfortable and inviting, but we still had a way to go.

To complete the project I began pinning the bottom of the curtains to hem them to the proper length.

Let me say, I am *not* a tailor and am so bad at this sort of thing. Given how comfortable I am with most forms of DIY, sewing is just an area of shame in our home. (I know Wendy's Aunt Margie is shaking her head at us right now.) I wish I had a sewing machine and I wish I knew how to use it, but I don't. Maybe some day. (How many men do you know that freely and openly say "I really wish I knew how to use a sewing machine?")

I'm not sure how many times I stuck myself, as I lost count after about 40, but after a fair amount of effort I had the curtains pinned at the proper lengths for each panel.

Wendy and I used the supplied iron-on fabric tape to hem them. I felt like it was cheating a bit, but since we don't have the sewing machine I said I wished we had, nor the knowledge of how to use one, nor the time to sew the whole thing by hand, we both felt like it was our only option. I say "boo" to us.

After about an hour of careful ironing we now had ourselves some pretty great looking drapery panels all hung at the proper lengths!

Our room had magically transformed before our very eyes. The hard edges of the bamboo blinds had been softened tremendously by the white fabric panels hanging in either corner.

The sun porch is finally starting to feel like the room Wendy always imagined it could be. It's amazing how much the simple panels and dark curtain rod alters the feeling of the entire room. 

Here's another look from the other direction, so you can see how the room works with the new kitchen wine bar.

I would also be remiss if I didn't point out the new pillows on the white chairs. Wendy was thrilled to find these charming accessories at our local TJ Maxx. As she says, they're simple, yet the metallic buttons are a perfect nod to the brass tabletop, and she also loves the texture of the tulle. Here's a closer look for all the accessory enthusiasts out there.

I guess we can say that criticism can be taken constructively, and we're grateful for the...ahem...honest comment from our friend over at Apartment Therapy. If it wasn't for the scathing remark, we probably would have let the sun porch ride it out in it's floral glory, for at least another few years.

Hanging the curtains (and beginning to add accessories) is a major step closer to completing the new look of the sun porch, as well as checking off our list of must dos for the home tour. December 1, here we come!

What do you think of the new curtains? Are we the only "Real Men of Genius" fans out there? Is there an element that, when decorating your home, really started to make the room come together in your eyes? Did negative feedback ever spur you to take action on something in your life? We'd love to hear from you.

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